Congratulations to Robbie, who won some free seeds from Botanical Interests at Carol's giveaway! Those of you who didn't win have another chance. The giveaway here is just a bit different. First go over to Botanical Interests and look over their offerings. Then list the six seed packets (excluding the large packets) you'd like to [...]
Seeds and Seed Starting
Three gardening books for children
November 18, 2008 – Posted in: Book reviews, Fruit, Pests, Plagues, and Varmints, Seeds and Seed Starting, VegetablesMany gardening books for children take what I think of as the art project approach: here's what you need, this is what you do, isn't that cute?, now show it to Grandma. Very few books out there take children--or a child's interest in gardening--seriously. I prefer to regard children as apprentice gardeners, gradually acquiring more [...]
Winter sowing, aka cold stratification
February 5, 2008 – Posted in: Seeds and Seed StartingWinter sowing, as far as I can tell, is identical to what, in my self-education as a gardener, I learned as cold stratification. The more traditional description of the procedure is to put the seeds in the fridge for the requisite period of time, and then sow them in pots or flats or whatever your [...]
Poppy Seed Queens
January 20, 2008 – Posted in: Seeds and Seed StartingJust about half a year ago, I was lamenting the loss of my favorite pink peony poppy. Thanks to one of my readers, I learned that these beauties are being sold on eBay. EBay! I had known that seeds and plants were sold on eBay, but had never thought to look myself. Julie Calhoun and [...]
Value Seeds, or Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming
February 16, 2007 – Posted in: Recommended Links, Seeds and Seed StartingThanks to an eclectic garden, I learned about Value Seeds. This reminds me of Edward Hamilton Books, my favorite place to shop for gardening books. Someone else's castoffs, but still good quality, one price for shipping no matter how much you buy, get-it-before-it's-gone selection, and very low prices. I haven't ordered from them myself, but [...]
Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 4
January 21, 2007 – Posted in: Acquisitions, Design, How-to, Recommended Links, Seeds and Seed Starting, Series, Spreadsheets in Gardening, WishlistIn part 3 I showed how to put the finishing touches on a spreadsheet that calculated the potential cost of a plant order in progress. But because of its tabular format, a spreadsheet is often used in situations where a lot of information needs to be organized, even if no calculations are made. Below are [...]
Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 2
January 17, 2007 – Posted in: How-to, Seeds and Seed Starting, Series, Spreadsheets in Gardening, WishlistIn part 1 we logged into Google Spreadsheets and got things set up. Now let's get this thing to do some work for us. We're going to teach this worksheet to multiply the price of a plant by the number of plants we want to give us the total price. The end result will make [...]
Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 1
January 16, 2007 – Posted in: How-to, Recommended Links, Seeds and Seed Starting, Series, Spreadsheets in Gardening, WishlistI mentioned in a recent post that I use a spreadsheet to plan my garden purchases. Others have mentioned using a spreadsheet to track their seed sowing. But that doesn't help you much if you don't know a spreadsheet from a tablecloth, so let's start right there: a spreadsheet is a computer program that arranges [...]
Seed info
January 9, 2007 – Posted in: Seeds and Seed StartingSpring-like warmth and an absence of snow have conspired to create irresistible conditions for working outside in the garden. But not much beyond a little cleaning, mulching, and pruning can be done, as the soil is soaked and soggy and, as tempting as it is, it’s much too early to sow seeds outside. I’m channeling [...]
Gardening catalog deals and deadlines for 2007
January 5, 2007 – Posted in: Acquisitions, Catalog review, Seeds and Seed StartingHave you ever gotten ready to order from a mail order seed or plant merchant, only to discover if you'd ordered a few days sooner you could have gotten a discount or a freebie? I have. It's more than annoying--it makes me feel like I'm losing my penny-pinching touch. So I decided that this year [...]
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